I Will Always Hate Him
by Grac3L1
Summary: Lily can't stand James. And nothing's going to change that. But what if there was a side of him unknown to her? A side that just might save her life?
1. Running on the Train

**A/N: I own none of these characters except for the ones you don't recognize!**

"Bye!" said Lily Evans, waving to her parents from the window of the Hogwarts Express.

As the train gave its last warning of departure, Lily went down the aisle of the train to look for her two best friends, Regina Lin and Miranda Leslie.

"HEY!" called a voice behind her.

"Regina! Miranda!" shouted Lily as she rushed over to greet her companions.

"Hey!" called _another_ voice.

Lily looked around to find that the infamous James Potter was running (well, stumbling) towards her.

Seeing this, Lily ran to her friends, ignoring the yells of her name from Potter. Lily grabbed them by their arms and dragged them into the nearest compartment she could find, only to see that it was too late.

He somehow was able to stick his foot between the two sliding doors and was able to let himself in.

Backing away is if James was some fast-spreading disease, she thought to herself,

"_crud_".


	2. James asks Lily

_**A/N: I know the last chapter was horribly short but I'm new at this so I'm going to try to make them as long as I can. **_

**The one where James asks Lily  
**

"Hello ladies…and Lin." Said James as he entered the compartment.

Regina rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and replied, "What do you want?

She and James have been enemies since first year when James turned her hair a bright pink, her absolute least favorite color. It stayed that way for at least a month if not longer.

" I think you and I both know exactly why I'm here." James replied in a know-it-all tone as he turned his attention to Lily.

"Hello, Evans", James addressed in a tone that could've made any girl faint. Lily, on the

other hand, wasn't any girl, and didn't buy it one bit.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Asked Lily, showing no concern that the most popular boy in the school was standing before her, or that practically all the girls on the train were trying to peek through the glass windows of the compartment.

Here's how their conversation went:

"You know I could've seriously injured myself trying to catch up to you down the aisle and you never would've been able to see my again." James reported.

"Really?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Really. But, I've looked past that and decided to come here to give you an opportunity of a lifetime."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"To go out with me."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. So? Wadya say?"

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Wadya mean no?!?"

"As in opposite of yes."

"I know _that_."

"The why did you ask?"

"I meant why don't you want to go out with me?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question?"

silence

"Why don't you go ask your friends?" Lily suggested as if that solved everything.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither of them moving, until James slammed open the sliding door like it was its fault Lily wouldn't go out with him, stepped out, slammed it back closed, and searched down the aisle to find his friends for answers to his dilemma.

Back in the compartment, Miranda looked at Lily as if she had gone crazy or something. Regina was laughing so hard she had trouble breathing.. Lily just looked at the sliding door and grinned a small grin for her success.


	3. Regina's Big Secret

A/N: to all those readers out there, PLEASE REVIEW MY STORIES! I want to make them as good as possible! Thanx!

Walking down the aisle, James was finally able to track down his friends. He opened the compartment door the same way he did with Lily's compartment, stepped in, and closed it just the same as he did with Lily's. In the compartment sat James' three best friends: Sirius Black, the bad boy, Remus Lupin, the wiz kid, and Peter Pettigrew, the extra.

"'Bout time you got here, Prongs." Said Sirius.

"Yeah, we were starting to worry about you." Added Remus.

"I just saw Lily, again." James said to his friends.

"Oh. So how'd it go?" Asked Remus.

" How do you think?!?" Shouted James that stunned the whole group.

"That bad, huh?" Said Sirius.

"What am I doing wrong? Why won't she go out with me?!?" asked James in distress.

Sadly (and kind of pathetically), none of his friends knew the answer to that.

Back at Lily's compartment, Miranda was so shocked at how Lily was towards James.

"What is WRONG with you?!?" Shouted Miranda to Lily, looking at her like she was some sort of nutcase.

"What?!?" Lily shouted back to Miranda.

"_The_ James Potter just asked you out and you rejected him, that's what!" Replied Miranda in a tone that could've set off firecrackers.

"Miranda, you should know by now how Lily won't go out with him." Said Regina calmly.

"Still, I would've thought she could at least give him a chance." Thought Miranda aloud.

"Look, if you _love _and _adore_ him so much, why don't you go out with him?" Suggested Lily to Miranda.

"I would if he liked me half as much as he likes you." Answered Miranda.

"Please! Do you seriously think he likes me at all? If I do go out with him, he'll eventually get bored with me, dump me, and go off to search for another innocent victim." Said Lily, trying to maintain her temper towards her so-called, Potter-crazed friend.

Nobody said anything for a while. The silence was broken by Regina when she declared,

"I'm going out with Remus Lupin."

"WHAT?!?" shouted her two friends at the same time.

"I said-"

"I know damn well what you said!" Cried Lily. "How could you when you knew how I felt about Potter and his friends?!? How could you?!?"

"It's not like I'm going out with Potter!" Regina debated.

"It might as well be!"

"It's not the same!"  
"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"  
"No it isn't"  
"Uh-huh!"  
"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Would you two just stop this!!" Miranda screamed that seemed to have made the entire train silent. Nobody, including the whole train, talked until a second later, then the noise of the train returned to normal volume.

In Lily's compartment, however, it couldn't be anymore quiet. If the silence could kill, nobody on the train would be alive.


	4. Arrival and Apologies

**A/N: Please review! Nobody's listening! (lol)**

At long last the train arrived at Hogwarts. Lily, still not talking to Regina, stepped down from the train with Regina and Miranda as James and his gang did the same. When they entered the magnificent great hall, both groups went their separate ways and looked for seats. Lily saw the timid, scared-looking first years and recalled her first time arriving at Hogwarts.

_Flashback:_

_Lily entered the great hall without much confidence. She was muggle-born so it was hard for her to make friends, sadly. After being sorted into Gryffindor, she sat down at the Gryffindor table and met Regina Lin, also a first year. The next day, they met Miranda Leslie during Transfiguration, and the three of them have been friends ever since._

_End Flashback._

When the sorting and the feast ended and Dumbledore finished his speech, Lily and her group of friends went to the Gryffindor common room entrance. Then, they realized none of them knew the new password.

"Allow me." Said a suave voice behind them. The girls turned around to find that James and his group were walking towards them.

James cleared his throat and said clearly and grandly, "Cornish Pixie."

"Correct, said the Fat Lady as she swung open the portrait, revealing a large opening behind it.

"Ladies first." Said Sirius to Lily and her friends.

Ignoring their snide comments, the girls entered the portrait hole and stepped into the common room. The room was filled with a warm light coming from the fire in the fireplace. Red and gold showered the room and immediately made everyone feel right at home.

Lily went up to the girls' dormitories to find that her trunk and caged brown and white spotted owl, Olive, were standing neatly beside her bed. Lily looked around to find Regina and suddenly stumbled across her.

"I am so sorry!" they said to each other at the same time.

"You were right. I should've never gone out with him after knowing how much you despise them." Regina pleaded.

"No, if anyone's sorry, it's me. I was unfair and a total jerk towards you. If you really want to see him, go right ahead." Argued Lily.

"You're not a jerk. Only guys can be jerks. You're a _jerkette_." Regina teased.

Lily laughed at that and they both went to look for the missing third girl.

When they reached the common room, Regina told Lily that she's going to look for Remus. Lily and Regina said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Looking for Miranda, Lily didn't pay much attention to where she was going or the fact that she was walking backwards now. Because of that, Lily tripped and stumbled backwards, falling into the arms of James Potter.


	5. In the Closet and Meeting Miranda

**A/N: I'm not going to mention Pettigrew much in my story.**

**Also, PLEASE R E V I E W!! That's all I'm asking!**

"Wah!" cried Lily as she fell back and landed on top of James.

"Ow..." Groaned James as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What are you doing here?!?" shouted Lily.

"Shhhhh!" whispered James as loudly as he can.

"Don't tell me to shhhhh!!" Screamed Lily.

At that moment, James grabbed Lily by the wrist and dragged her into the closest broom closet he can find.

"What the…let me out!" Ranted Lily towards James, moments away from actually physically hurting him.

"Stop yelling! Do you how many people were staring at us?" Asked James covering Lily's mouth with his hand.

Lily fought back and cried just as loudly as before, "Do you think I care?!? Here you are dragging me into a broom closet and you expect me to stop yelling?!? I'll yell and scream and shout as much as I want!"

James just stared at Lily with a sly expression on his face.

"What?" asked Lily in a now normal tone after she'd cooled down.

"This is great. I have Lily Evans all to myself in a broom closet. It won't be long before…"

"Before what?" Asked Lily in a bored tone.

James flashed her a devilish grin.

"What the-" It took Lily a second to finally get it. And then came the explosion.  
"UGH!! OH. MY-"

(I'm not going to get into detail on how she blew her head off at James)

Lily looked at James in disgust after having thrown a fit so big, it's surprising the door didn't come right off its hinges, and reached to turn the knob of the door but it wouldn't budge. She tried again, this time much harder than the first but it was still locked.

She looked at James who had a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Let. Me. Out." Lily said in a deathly tone.

James, still with the annoying grin on his face, said coolly, "I will if you'll go out with me."

Lily turned back to the door and practically started kicking it and punching it but it would not cooperate.

She turned back to James and screamed, "LET ME OUT!!!"

"Not until I hear a 'Yes, I'll go out with you, James.'"

Lily looked at the doorknob again as if the secret to opening it was to stare at it long and hard.

Suddenly, the doorknob turned and the door opened, Sirius standing if front of them, his hand on the doorknob outside of the door.

"What's going on here? Did you guys get stuck in here or something? The door's always getting jammed, you know. Poor Filch has lost his touch, I'm sorry to say…"

Lily looked at James in disbelief. Even if she had said yes, they'd still be stuck in the closet.

Lily walked out of the closet, turned and headed towards the Gryffindor common room trying to go as fast as she can without actually breaking into a run.

Back at the broom closet, James just stared at Sirius, not believing what had just happened. He had Lily right where he wanted her until Sirius came and ruined it.

"What?" Asked Sirius, apparently not knowing what he had just done.

"You ruined it, that's what!" Shouted James, still in shock at what had just happened.

With that said, James ran towards the Gryffindor common room, hoping he might still

have a chance with that date.

"What? What'd I do?" Asked Sirius in disbelief at what had just happened. He too, started running towards the common room in hopes of finding an explanation to James' outburst.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sirius cried. He finally caught up with James but still had to run down the halls.

"What'd I do?" He asked again, clearly confused.

"You let Lily out of the closet!" James said as if that would answer his best mate's question. Sirius just looked at him with a confused look on his face, unable to figure out what he'd done except the fact that he "let Lily out of the closet", whatever that meant.

When Lily reached the portrait hole, she climbed into the deserted common room. Knowing Regina is probably with Lupin, Lily started looking for her other friend, Miranda, who she realized she hadn't seen since they got off the Hogwarts Express.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone behind her shouted, "BOO!"

"AH!" cried Lily as she jumped around to find Miranda laughing her head off and completely forgot about her little incident. Some people turned their heads briefly to see what the noise was all about but then quickly turned their attention back to what they were originally doing.

"I am so going to kill you." Lily said laughing as she reached to grab a pillow from the common room sofa and was about to fling it at Miranda but was stopped when she heard footsteps coming from the common room entrance.

"Oh, God no" she said to herself and turned her attention to Miranda, "If it's Potter, tell him I'm not here." She instructed her friend as she raced up the stairs to the girls' dormitories just as James and Sirius stepped into the common room. Unfortunately for Lily, James was able to catch a glimpse of Lily's flowing cloak and immediately knew she had ran away.

He turned his attention to the only girl left in the room.

"Hey, I know you. You're that girl that sat next to Evans on the train." He greeted her.

"I expected a 'Hi, I'm James Potter, and you are must be Miranda Leslie' but yeah, I'm 'that girl'" Miranda answered sarcastically as reached for the pillow Lily was holding before she took off.

"Allow me." James said quickly as he lunged for the pillow and threw it back onto the sofa with little consideration. "I'm going to guess you talk with Evans a lot, am I right?"

Miranda looked at James and his messy jet-black hair to his fierce, penetrating dark eyes but replied coolly, "So? What's in it for you?"

James grinned one of his usual "girl-hypnotizing" grins, ruffled his hair that made Miranda scream inside, and answered, "So you can talk to her about things and stuff, right?"

Maintaining her cool, she spat, "Get on with it! I have a life to live, you know."

A little taken back, James finally got to the point.

"I need you to set up a date with me and your friend, Lily."

Surprised at how he used Lily's given name, Miranda widened her eyes. She took a long, deep breath, and replied with a small smile, "I'm not going to play matchmaker for you two. If Lily thinks you're a total jerk, never wants to see you again, or even says she hates you, there ain't nothing I can do about that. You know how she is with you."

Disappointed at the news Miranda surprised him with, James closed his eyes, moaned a small moan, and gestured Sirius to come with him to the boys' dormitories. Sirius just stared at Miranda with widened eyes, shocked at the conversation that just took place, and followed James to the boys' dormitories. He did, though, after taking one last hard look at Miranda, who started towards the stairs of the girls' dormitories, at the same time resisting the urge to race up the stairs like Lily did, and was one her way to see Lily who, was waiting un-patiently by Miranda's bed.

Meanwhile, Regina was walking slowly down the halls of the school from the school library towards the Gryffindor common room, unable to think clearly and stunned at what had just happened. She and Remus were in the library and he told her something she couldn't believe the first time she heard it. Remus had just told her a huge secret about himself that she promised she wouldn't tell any living soul. She just didn't know whether or not she could keep it from Lily.


	6. The Chat and Regina's Problem

**A/N: I just want to thank everyone who reviewed my story. Spread the word about my story, ok? Thanx! Also, if you see a typo or something wrong with a phrase or sentence, please tell me. I want to make my story as good and mistake-free as possible. **

**THANX:) :) :)**

When Miranda opened the door to her dormitory, she found that Lily had been waiting for her to come up ever since she had ran upstairs to hide from James.

"What the heck took you so long?!?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Sorry! In case you don't know, I just saved your arse from a date with Jame-Potter." Miranda answered, quickly catching her slip-up with James' name.

"Oh. Sorry. My bad." Lily apologized meekly.

After a brief silence as Lily changed into her pajamas and fixed up her bed, she jolted up and asked suspiciously, "Did you just call him what I think you called him?"

Miranda looked up and said quickly, "Called who what?"

"Did you just call Potter by his given name?" Lily interrogated.

"No…" Miranda said lying through her teeth.

"Yes. Yes! Yes you did! Oh, my, gosh! You called him James! Lily cried. The world is going insane! My life is going _straight_ down the bloody tubes!!!"

"Shhh…Shush! Calm yourself." whispered Miranda, although it wouldn't have made a difference considering Lily was already having such a bad day.

"You're the second person to 'shush' me today, and the other one was Potter himself!" Lily yelled, her temper rising like a thermometer on a hot, summer day. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she stared at her friend straight in the eye.

"You don't actually like him, do you?!?" Lily asked in a dangerous, quiet, deathly tone.

Suddenly, they flinched at the sound of the portrait hole opening. They also realized that there was a chance of the person coming in to be Regina. Both Lily and Miranda ran down the stairs, jostling each other as they stumbled down the narrow staircase.

When they reached the common room, they found Regina sitting on the sofa she plopped onto with her head down, hands covering her face. Lily and Regina walked to her, tapped her lightly on the shoulder, which she responded to with a sharp jolt and sudden intake of breath.

"Oh, thank god it's you two." Regina said as she slowly let out her breath.

"Well duh, it's us. Who else would it be?" Miranda said laughing but stopped when Lily nudged her quite hard in the ribs.

"Is everything ok?" Lily asked quietly.

Regina looked at Lily for a while, not sure whether to tell Lily what Remus had told her.

"Yeah," She answered finally. "Everything's fine."

Lily slowly breathed in, held it for a second before letting it out. "Ok. But if there's anything you need to talk about, I'm the girl to look for." She assured Regina.

Regina smiled a small smile and said, "Don't worry. Everything's perfect." And she went up to her room to finally get some sleep after her encounter with her boyfriend.

When she reached her dormitory, she closed the door so no one can hear her and said to herself sadly, "Just perfect."

Back at the common room, Lily and Miranda had an awkward, silent moment, neither wanting to admit defeat and apologize first.

Finally, it was Lily who took a deep breath and said, "Look, can we just forget about this? Pretend it never happened? Friends?"

Miranda smiled, happy about the fact that Lily hadn't continued with her questions and replied, "Definitely." And together, they walked up the stairs, laughing and joking like they always had before. But behind the laughter, Lily knew something was wrong with Regina, and that Remus Lupin had something to do with it.

**A/N: I almost forgot. I based Regina on my friend Regina who helped me with my first chapter. Also, she was the one who encouraged me to write this story. Just so she knows I didn't forget about her, I wanted to publicize my 'thank you'.**

**T H A N X, R E G I N A !**

By the way, Regina's (my friend's) pen name is GiNaReZh but you can just type ginarezh.


	7. Meeting with Lupin and the Confronting

The next day, after classes, Lily went to look for Lupin, hoping to find the reason for why Regina was very quiet the other night. Lily found him in, of coarse, the library, sitting at a deserted table closest to the library door, skimming through a book on potions.

Without hesitating, Lily sat at the chair opposite of him, making a small racket so he'll notice her.

"Can I help you?" he asked, confused on why she would be, in any way, concerned with him.

"What did you say to Regina?" Lily asked, getting straight to the point.

"How d'you know about-never mind. Point is, I didn't tell her anything. Now, if you'll excuse me," Lupin said as he started to leave the table but was stopped as Lily reached and grabbed his arm, forcing him to sit back down.

"No. I won't excuse you because I know something's wrong with Regina and she won't tell me. Now," Lily said firmly, "What. Did. You. Tell. Her."

"Even if I did tell her anything, how is that any of your business?" Lupin fired back.

"Because she is my friend and I care about her-" Lily started.

"Are you saying I don't care about her?!?" Lupin shouted and was immediately shushed by a crowd of people in the library, satisfying Lily who couldn't help but smirk.

"No." Lily said flatly. "All I'm saying is Regina hasn't been herself lately."

"Lately? I just told her yesterday." Lupin blurted out but then realized what he had just revealed.

"Aha! So you did tell her something!" Lily exclaimed and was, too, shushed by the people around her.

After a brief moment, Lupin said, "Fine. I did tell her something. Ok? But even so, whether she can to tell you is not up to you." At that moment, Lupin took the opportunity to get up from his seat before Lily could lunge towards him again and started walking toward the library door. He grabbed the handle and just as he was about to open it, he paused and, without turning, said to Lily, "You should know that James really does like you."

He swung the door open, stepped out, and the door shut itself back with a low creak.

Lily just looked at the door, thinking about the last sentence Lupin had said but quickly shook that information out of her head.

_Like that could actually happen_. Lily thought to herself and let herself out of the library and into the long hallway outside.

As Lily was walking down the halls, she heard a faint calling of her name. She turned around to find that James Potter, of all the places he could've been at that moment, was running up to her, almost like the time on the train, except there wasn't any luggage and it was harder for him to get injured, sadly. Lily turned on her heel and started pacing herself as she tried to find her way to the closest girls' bathroom.

_Even Potter wouldn't be stupid enough to go into the girls' bathroom._ Lily thought with some hope of losing Potter.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a girls' bathroom in sight and James was able to catch up with her.

"Hey." James said brightly, beaming with pride at his success of catching up with Lily.

"Wadya want? And how is it that you know exactly where I am _all_ the time?" Lily said, neither facing James nor pause to talk.

"Can't a guy say hello to the woman of his dreams?" James asked innocently.

Lily rolled her eyes and said bluntly, "If you want to talk, I suggest you stop using your fake tone with me and start talking for real."

James didn't seem to hear any of what she had just said and continued with what he was saying. " You know, you're the only girl in Hogwarts who hasn't gone out with me."

"And?" Lily asked unconcernedly.

"And," James ranted on. "Considering it's our seventh and last year to be with each other, I would like to give you one last chance to go out with me. Considering you're the only girl in the entire school who hasn't."

As soon as James had finished that last sentence, Lily stopped dead in his tracks. "So you're saying the ONLY reason you want to got out with me is because I'm the only girl in the school who hasn't fallen under your 'charm'" Lily replied icily. Without waiting for an answer to her reply, Lily continued.

"Next time you ask me out, I'd really appreciate it if you did it because you actually liked me, and not just because I'm the last girl to cross off your list of girls to date!" Lily spat, eyes almost on the verge of filling with tears. She gave James one last hard look and turned toward the direction of the common room, wanting to get away from James Potter as far as possible.

Just as she started toward the common room, Sirius appeared next to James.

"I'm guessing she rejected you again." Sirius said.

Startled by Sirius' sudden appearance, James looked at Sirius for a brief moment and asked annoyingly, "Where the hell did you come from?"

When Lily reached the Gryffindor common room, she stormed up the stairs to find Miranda or Regina, whichever one was upstairs. Luckily, she saw that both Regina and Miranda were upstairs in Regina's room, giving Lily the opportunity to yell at people and not get into trouble.

"Potter is such a git! What the hell is up with that big-headed toerag?!?" Lily screamed.

Regina was about to speak when she was cut off short by Lily's continuous yelling.

"He's arrogant. He's rude. He's so self-absorbed. And worst of all, he has all the girls in Hogwarts under his 'good looks' curse." Lily ranted on.

"Maybe-" Tried Regina but was once again cut off by Lily.

"I'm talking!" Lily bellowed, breathing like crazy. "I don't want your opinion. I don't want your advice. And I, sure as hell, don't want you defending him. I just want to scream for a while! Is that okay?!?"

Nobody dared moved.

Lily stared at her two terrified friends, frozen from shock and amazement that Lily had actually cursed.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU!!" Lily screeched.

"Yes! Yes! You can scream all you want!" Cried Miranda after she knew for sure Lily had let out all the anger she had kept bottled up inside.

"And we won't defend him!" Added Regina. Miranda nodded rapidly in agreement.

Lily looked at her best friends, whom she had loved for so long, staring back at her with wide, horrified eyes. Lily started regaining her calmness and slumped, face first, into Regina's bed. After a full minute of silence, Lily started spilling about the events in the closet and the hallway.

Suddenly, the three heard a distant calling of Lily's name, taking a moment before realizing it was James himself looking for Lily.

Lily's head jolted to the side, stood up, and declared, holding her wand, "It's Potter. I'm going to kill him!"

Seeing this, Miranda leaped from the chair she was sitting on and grabbed Lily before she had the chance of going outside.

"I'll go see him." Regina assured Lily as she was slowly and gently released and directed back to the bed by Miranda.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, Regina saw that James and Sirius were waiting by the fireplace.

Regina cleared her throat and got their attention.

"It's late. Everybody's asleep. I want to sleep. Miranda wants to sleep. _Lily wants to_ _sleep. _Regina said exhaustedly.

"I know." James answered. "But if you can get her to talk to me for just a minute, then-"

"Then what?" Regina interrupted. "You'll somehow woo her into believing that you've changed. You had numerous chances to prove yourself and by the looks of it, I'm going to guess you're still a scumbag and will always be a scumbag to her. So if that's what you're trying to do, you're out of luck."

James just looked at her with wide eyes.

"And get the hell outta here." Regina added with no expression on her face whatsoever.

There was a dead silence, only to be interrupted occasionally by the crackling fire in the fireplace.

"I say we should go" Sirius whispered to James. And they did.

As they were going up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, James asked, "What the bloody hell is up with that…that…I don't even know that she is."

"Isn't she the one going out with Moony?" Sirius asked in a bored tone.

"That's _her_?" James asked a little too loudly. They froze to see if anybody woke up.

"That's _her_?" James repeated, whispering this time.

"I think so." Sirius replied.

"Damn. What's wrong with him?" James thought aloud.

"Apparently, he sees something in her. Whatever that is." Sirius said shrugging, just as confused as James.


	8. Important AN!

**A/N: I know how annoying it is when an A/N is used as a chap.**

**I myself hate it too and it's killing me to say that I'm doing something I hate. I just wanted to give y'all a heads-up that I probably won't be continuing this story until later on, probably starting 2007.**

**I want to focus my attention on school, with the "pre-SAT" coming up and all (Can y'all believe that? Taking the SAT when I'm only 14?).**

**But that doesn't mean I'm abandoning this story!**

**I can promise y'all I won't.**

**Also, I want to thank all the people who reviewed my story. They really helped.**

**I know y'all must hate me but just give me some time.**

**THANX!!!!!!!!!**

**Grac3l1 **

**(I also hope that wasn't too over-the-top dramatic. Haha.)**


	9. Asking Lily to Hogsmeade

A/N: You guys have to review!!!!! If you don't I won't be encouraged to continue this story!!!!! Please R&R!

The next morning, James had a fit with Lupin.

"You didn't tell me you were going out with Regina Lin!" James exclaimed.

"I didn't think you'd care. So what if I'm going out with her?" Lupin asked.

"It matters because she's…….she's….she's Regina Lin!" James ranted.

"So?" Remus said, his voice rising.

Sirius just sat on a chair behind the two and continued to watch like a sitting duck.

"Did you know this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend?" Sirius asked, apparently unaware of the fact that his two best friends were biting each other's heads off.

James, oblivious at what Sirius had just said, turned to turned to him and asked, "S'cuse me?"

"I said this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. Which I just realized is tomorrow."

James flashed a smile that obviously meant he was up to something. With a triumphant gesture, he declared, "I'm going to ask Evans to go to Hogsmeade with me."

Without turning back, James swung open the door of that room, ran down the stairs, and into the Hogwarts halls with poor Lupin and Sirius trailing behind him.

Meanwhile, Lily, Regina, and Miranda were still in the Great Hall eating their breakfast. As they were about to leave, Lily turned her head towards the great hall entrance and saw that, of coarse, James Potter, was walking towards her. Lily turned her head back to her friends, told them to stay, and started talking to them, completely ignoring Potter.

As James came closer and closer to her group, Lily talked louder and with more energy, hopefully sending a sign that she wants James to go.

Miraculously, James had completely ignored Lily and continued walking past her and into the Great Hall

Lily smiled and got out of her seat, only to find herself three inches apart from James.

"Ah!" Lily cried, more upset than surprised.

"Please. The pleasure's all mine." James addressed.

Lily simply rolled her eyes and asked, "What do you want from me?!? Do you WANT me to hate you for the rest of my life?!? Is that what you WANT?!? 'Cuz I have better things to do than to do that!!!"

"Shh!" Miranda urged Lily. "You're starting a scene."

But Lily simply ignored her and waited for what James had to say.

"You wanna go to Hogsmeade with me? Great. I'll meet you by the Three Broomsticks." James asked, turned on his heel, and walked away without even waiting for a reply.

Lily just stood there, dumbfounded, at what had just happened.

A neighboring girl sitting at the same table as them just looked up at Lily with either an amazed or jealous look on her face.

"What the fu-"


	10. Admitting Defeat

Word that James Potter had asked Lily Evans to go to Hogsmeade with him spread like wildfire. After all the classes were over, everyone in Hogwarts, mostly the girls, had heard and talked about it on and on.

"I hear she had begged him to take her out…" Lily heard a 4th year whisper to her friend as she walked by them.

"Did you see how she gaped at him like it was a miracle.." Another 5th year asked her friend.

"I can't believe of all the available girls there are in this school, Potter picked that mudblood Evans.." A Slytherin said to another within earshot of Lily, probably on purpose.

When Lily finally reached the Griffindor common, she found Regina and Miranda sitting by the fireplace, chatting away with ease.

"I can't believe the entire school heard about that 'incident' at breakfast. What kind of fool would be stupid enough to tell it to the world?!?" Lily asked her friends furiously.

"Um…" Miranda stuttered. "Was I not suppose to?"

Lily looked at Miranda, mouth wide open, eyes bulging out of her sockets.

Before Lily could strike, Regina scooched herself in front of Lily.

"Well, you didn't exactly _say_ she wasn't allowed to tell people." She reasoned slowly and carefully. "Besides, she only told a couple of her classmates during potions. What's the worst that could happen?"

There was a long pause before Lily took a deep breath and whispered quietly but dangerously, "What's the worst that could happen? What's the worst that could happen?!?"

Uh_-oh._ Regina thought.

"I'll tell you what's the worst that could happen!" Lily whispered frantically. "I just walked down the hall and heard at least three, if not more, people whispering that I begged Potter to go out with me, or I paid him 7 Galleons to ask me to Hogsmeade, or that he only did it because his friends dared him, or whatever bull gossip that's being spread! So if you don't think that's the worst thing that could happen, you are WRONG, DAMNIT!!!!!

At this time, Lily was breathing pretty hard and looked at her friends without even flinching, a pindrop silence in the background.

Lily, finally able to regain herself, sighed and asked quietly, as though she was talking to herself, "What am I going to do?"

Miranda decided to be the first one to talk. "Maybe it won't go as bad as you think." She suggested.

"Yeah." Regina added. "It's not the worst thing that could hap-"

Lily glared at her.

Regina gasped and covered her mouth. "I mean…" She stammered. "What I mean is, Potter might not be as big a stuck-up, rude, arrogant git as you think. He could change. And you might actually start to like him."

There was a pause as though Lily started thinking about what Regina had just said.

To add some humor to the levity, Regina added, "If a meteor hit Hogwarts, anyway."

Lily grinned, sighed once more and declared, "Fine. I guess it _wouldn't_ be the worst thing that could happen."

"Can we go to the Great Hall now? All this James Potter talk is making me hungry. No, wait…starving." Miranda complained.

The three girls laughed, got up, and walked out the common room and into the halls together.


	11. An unexpected hero

A/N: I am soooooo incredibly sorry for putting this story off for so long. I had serious writer's block. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. And please review. Thanx! You have no idea how guilty I feel right now.

Hogsmeade weekend came a whole lot faster than Lily had hoped and prepared for. As she was lying on her bed, she had hoped the sun would never rise and it was all just a horrible nightmare that will end as long as she doesn't get up from her bed. Unfortunately for her, that was not the case.

"WAKE UP!" cried a familiar voice.

Lily slowly opened her eyes to find Miranda literally shaking her awake.

"I'm up! I'm up!" cried Lily miserably.

"Yeah, thanks to me!" Miranda replied. "Now hurry up!"

Lily rubbed her eyes and asked, "For what?"

Miranda jolted her head towards Lily with a bewildered look and answered, "For your date with James Potter."

Lily looked at her friend with wide eyes. "That was today??"

"Oh my God, how could you forget?" Miranda asked in amazement.

"Whatever. I REALLY don't want to go! Please don't make me!" Lily cried.

"No! This is the chance of a lifetime and I'm not going to let you miss this opportunity!"

Miranda exclaimed.

Lily rolled her eyes and got out of her bed.

"Fine. I'll go to the stupid date with stupid Potter and get this whole stupid thing over with. Stupid." Lily whined.

"Yay! Thatagirl!" Miranda cheered.

Lily smiled. "That doesn't mean I'm not mad at you."

Miranda didn't seem to have heard her. "Yeah, uh-huh, whatever."

After breakfast in the Great Hall, Lily and Miranda, arm in arm, strolled to Hogsmeade.

Not only did Lily calm down but she was also hating James less and less too. However, Miranda thought she had to leave considering it was a date between Lily and James and left, leaving Lily alone in Three Broomsticks. After a whole hour, Lily started becoming impatient and finally left and started towards Hogwarts castle. Little did she know this decision would lead her into a dark alley filled with anti-muggle Slytherins.

As she was walking down the path towards Hogwarts, Lily noticed a small, dark narrow path that also leads to Hogwarts. Thinking it was a shortcut, Lily stepped towards the path only to be stopped by a girl. This girl, a Slytherin, looked different from what you'd expect a Slytherin to look like. She didn't have the evil in her eyes like all the rest. Also, instead of a snake-like attitude, she was surprisingly humble and a bit frightened.

"Are you Lily Evans?" the girl asked meekly.

"Yeah," Lily replied curtly, seeing that the girl was wearing a green and white scarf, indicating she probably was a muggle-hating Slytherin. "And?"

"Please don't go in there." She warned, pointing at the path, "It's dangerous."

Lily rolled her eyes and replied, "I think I can take care of myself." And with that said she walked in carelessly.

As she fumbled around in the dark, Lily had realized that she was lost. She could no longer see the sky anymore. Instead, when she looked up, she saw only the branches of dead trees and rotting leaves. As for the air, it was so thick you could practically feel it. Suddenly, she stepped on a twig, causing it to snap, making a huge crackling noise as someone in the distance yell, "Who's there?!?"

Lily realized she had made a mistake coming through this path and quickly turned around to find herself surrounded by a mob of angry-looking Slytherins.

"What's a mudblood like you doing here?? Don't you know this place is only for pureblood Slytherins??" A man, possibly twice as large as Lily was, asked.

"I just want to get out of here." Lily replied as best as she could without showing any fear.

"Yeah?" Another voice asked, this time a girl's. "Well it's too late for that now, princess. Should've thought twice before coming into my area."

"Your area?!?" The first man exclaimed. "Since when did this alley become yours, Amanda??"

"Since you decided to grow another chin, Luke. Oh wait, that's your face!" Amanda cackled back, receiving feedback of snickers, laughing, and one guy snorting.

"Shudup!" Luke demanded, and the crowd fell silent. "This is my territory and you don't get any say on anything!"

"Make me, punk!" Amanda cried and jumped onto the big guy and started whacking him on the head.

As the crowd around the two started chanting "FIGHT, FIGHT", Lily just stood there, unable to move as though her feet were glued to the ground.

Suddenly, a booming voice shouted "ENOUGH!" and scared everyone, including the two fighting, in that alley.

A cloaked figure in the darkness approached the group of people and lifted his hood to reveal who he was. As it turned out, the figure was actually a girl, a girl that didn't seem to show any threat of danger. She looked around Lily's age but younger than most of the people around her.

She turned to the two fighting people and asked, "What the hell are you two doing?!? I asked you politely if you guys can watch this alley so nobody will penetrate it and now you two are ripping each other's throats out. WHAT GIVES?!?"

"Sorry," Amanda answered, "We knew better than this but we still acted like babies."

The cloaked girl turned her head towards Luke and asked quietly but venomously, "Well?"

"Yeah," Luke replied softly with his face towards the ground. "What she said."

The cloaked figure sighed and was about to leave until she saw Lily standing there, unable to move.

The girl pursed her lips as a sign that she was pissed off and turned her attention towards the others.

"And what. Is. That?" she asked dangerously.

"That is nothing more than an intruder who apparently got lost." Amanda replied in a panicking tone.

"An intruder?? After I told you not to let ANYONE, especially a mudblood," She paused and scanned Lily in disgust, "In MY territory."

"We owe you a thousand apologies." Amanda pleaded. "Please forgive us."

The cloaked girl rolled her eyes and turned to Lily.

"I know your kind. You're the kind of person who thinks they are so perfect and flawless and think they are all high and mighty and deserve the world. Sorry, to spoil your dream, but you are nothing but a mudblood!"

After that, the girl slapped Lily across the face, sending her tumbling onto the ground.

Lily, however, recovered quickly and stood back up.

"NO!" cried a voice, and Lily and the girl turned their heads to find the girl that warned Lily about the path running to her.

Standing in front of Lily, the girl cried, " Please don't hurt her anymore. It was my fault. I let her in. I'm sorry."

For a second, the cloaked girl didn't speak. After a brief second, she exploded.

"Damn right you're sorry! I'm just sorry at the fact my father even took you in. You're nothing but a lowlife, a nonentity, a sorry excuse for a witch."

And with that said, the cloaked girl slapped her across the face and yelled, "I don't even want to see your ugly, revolting, disgusting face!"

All this happened before the eyes of Lily. She, at first, was shocked at how the cloaked girl treated the girl who defended Lily. However, that shock turned to anger and, with as much patience as she could, she bended down to help the defenseless girl up, only to be kicked to the side by the cloaked girl herself.

"And don't think I'm done with you just yet". The cloaked girl sneered. "I'm gonna make you pay for thinking you're so high and mighty when really you're nothing but a scrawny little mudblood!"

Before she could react to what the cloaked girl had just said, a sudden beam of white light flashed before Lily's eyes and it wasn't until later on that Lily realized the cloaked girl had taken out her wand and yelled, "_Impedimenta!" _sending Lily flying off and landing onto the ground with a hard _thud_.

All noises seemed to drone out of her ears. She was unable to hear what was happening around her. However, Lily was able to open her eyes for just a second to see a figure that looked so much like James come in and strike the cloaked girl with a spell that knocked her off her feet. And with that as the last image she saw, Lily collapsed and fainted.


	12. Loose knots tied

**A/N: This is going to be my last chapter. Hope you enjoyed the story. If it wasn't to your satisfaction, well then, you can kiss my a. Lol.**

When Lily woke up, she first noticed how her head felt like she had run over by a train. She looked around and saw that she was in a bed at the hospital wing in Hogwarts. At first, she knew she was going to throw up, but was forced to hold it in when Madame Pomfrey barged through the door in a scurry.

"What happened?" Lily asked rubbing her forehead.

"You were found unconscious when you arrived. Thank goodness for that Potter boy for stepping in at that moment." Madame Pomfrey replied. "Goodness what could've happened to you if he hadn't been there."

Lily stared at the woman talking in disbelief. Thinking, _"There's no way Potter could've done something like that."_

"Are you sure it was him? You're sure it wasn't someone else?" Lily asked determinably.

"As sure as I can be", replied the nurse.

It took Lily a while to have all that information sink in to her mind. Shaking her head in disbelief, Lily pulled off the blanket that was over her and tried to get up, only to be stopped by Madame Pomfrey.

"No.", she ordered. "You are to stay in your bed until further notice. Whoever it was that hit you so hard with that spell was obviously trying to do more than stun you for a while."

With this said, Lily returned into the warm blanket and asked, "Can I see my friends, Regina Lin and Miranda Leslie?"

After careful consideration, Madame Pomfrey sighed and slowly nodded her head.

"I'll send for them when I can. You've been through quite a lot so just rest for me, dear." She finally answered.

Lily smiled and relaxed her head onto her pillow and without even knowing it, fell asleep.

Suddenly, a bang woke her up and she saw that the doors of the hospital wing flew open, revealing a familiar face. It was the girl that had tried to save and defend Lily in the alley.

The girl looked miserable with a pale, gaunt face and had bruises and cuts everywhere on her face and arms. But what made Lily the most worried was that she looked absolutely lifeless.

Holding in her breath, she saw nurses and teachers rush in and out of the hospital wing trying to save the girl.

A nurse came over and pulled a curtain between Lily's and the girl's beds, forcing Lily to wait like a sitting duck and hope that the girl was still alive.

Waiting took forever, with the clock tower's hourly bells marking the time. Soon, Lily opened her eyes and saw that the sun was barely risen through the windows above her. Lily then realized that she had fell asleep once again and that it was the early morning after.

Rubbing her eyes, Lily then remembered the girl next to her. She turned her head and saw that the girl was in the bed next to her like before. Except now, she looked so much better with the bruises and cuts gone and her face returning to normal color. It was then when Lily saw that she was sleeping.

The doors flung open once more and in came running Regina and Miranda.

"Hey!" cried Miranda, but was shushed by Lily.

Miranda noticed the girl sleeping in the bed next to Lily and caught herself.

"Oops." She whispered. "Sorry."

Regina smiled and rolled her eyes. "So tell. What happened? I heard you got hurt coming back from Hogsmeade?" She then gasped. "Did Potter do this to you?!?!?!? 'Cuz if he did, I swear, I WILL kill him and make him die a slow and painful death. That is a promise I can keep."

"No. He didn't do anything." Lily smiled and laughed, and mentally added, _Nothing at all._

Lily yawned and Miranda saw, so she offered, "How 'bout we leave her alone for some time? I think she is a _bit_ overwhelmed."

Regina exasperated but obeyed. "Fine. We'll leave you alone 'til after classes. Okay?"

Lily smiled a tired smile and nodded in agreement.

Miranda and Regina, well Miranda pulling Regina by the arm, turned and went through the door, leaving Lily all by herself.

Lily sighed and lied back down onto her bed.

Going through what had happened in the last 24 hours. She then came to a conclusion, telling herself, "_What I saw was nothing more than an illusion from the spell. Potter will always be what he is now. And nothing's going to change that. I will always hate him… I think."_

Meanwhile, back at the Griffindor common room, up the boys' dormitory stairs, and into James' room, James sat on his bed with a small, tired grin on his face.

**_Finis_**


End file.
